Victoria Torrie-Capan

Pilates Instructor / Owner Studio 66

Victoria Torrie-Capan is the owner of Studio 66, a boutique fitness studio in Nashville, TN. Her core values as a teacher trainer and business owner, is to elevate the education and professionalism of the Pilates teacher. Victoria is engaged with the Pilates industry traveling internationally to train teachers as well with workshops and mentorships. Victoria began studying Pilates in 2002 at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2004 with extensive coursework incorporating Dance Therapy, Psychology, Anatomy and Kinesiology. Victoria completed her Pilates certification through Romana’s Pilates in 2005.

Victoria also is a certified ELDOA trainer and student of world renowned osteopath Dr Guy VOYER and has been training under him since 2016. Victoria deliveries the Pilates system through an effective combination of strong cues and client-specific adjustments, empowering each individual to achieve their unique goal.

Victoria guides her clients in building movement strategies. She systematically develops specific movement patterns educating the body through the various environments of Pilates apparatus. Victoria resides in Nashville, TN with her family. Her children Theo and Rosie inspire her continued journey as a movement educator.

Sonjé Mayo

Pilates Instructor/Owner Pilates Atelier

Sonjé Mayo was born in South Africa in 1945. After certifying as a physical therapist at the University of Cape Town, her career as a professional dancer took her to the USA in 1965 where she studied jazz dance initially with Luigi and then contemporary dance at the Martha Graham School. Ms. Graham insisted her students take class with Joseph Pilates and Sonjé followed her advice. The many Pilates sessions she had with Joseph Pilates, his wife Clara and Romana Kryzanowska proved to have a profound influence on Sonjé’s future.

During the four years she spent working as a dancer in NYC, Sonjé danced with the Alvin Ailey Company and this experience in particular inspired her to return to South Africa to pioneer modern dance in her country. On her return to South Africa in 1972, Sonjé formed the first multi-racial modern dance company in the history of South Africa, JAZZART, which is still in existence in Cape Town.

Sonje’s unique style of blending contemporary dance with African dynamics, became her trademark and led to worldwide acclaim for JAZZART. During the 70’s and 80’s Sonjé’s protest choreography brought the plight of Apartheid to audiences in and out of South Africa.

Sonjé returned to the USA in 1995 and settled in Nashville where her husband was offered a post at Vanderbilt University. In 2003 she retired from dance and returned to Pilates on a full time basis. Sonjé runs her own studio, The Pilates Atelier, in Nashville, where she has been teaching for 10 years.

Lori Coleman-Brown

Lori teaches Pilates lessons and trains, tests and mentors Pilates instructors. She’s responsible for Atlas Pilates educational program development and management.

A dancer from childhood, she pursued and earned a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase. She went on to earn a Master’s degree in Physical Therapy from Temple University. Her decades of experience include providing physical therapy for professional dance companies and backstage on Broadway shows in New York and Seattle, staff physical therapy positions and partnership in a successful PT clinic.

In the early 1980’s Lori was sent to Joseph Pilates protégeé Romana Kryzanowska by a dance instructor in order to deal with a knee injury. The knee healed completely, and Lori became captivated by The Pilates Method. By 1986 she was teaching Pilates and in 1999 was honored when Romana asked her to be a Pilates Teacher Trainer.

In 1993, Lori moved to the Pacific Northwest to co-found The Pilates Studio of Seattle (now known as Pilates Seattle International) where she served as a Director for 16 years and successfully trained more than a hundred new Pilates instructors. Lori ultimately reached Master Teacher Trainer status (Level II) in the Romana’s Pilates organization.

A featured instructor on Pilatesology, Lori also tours and teaches Pilates and Anatomy in studios of all sizes in Austria, Australia, Canada, England, France, the Netherlands, Japan, Singapore, and across the United States.

Lori stepped away from studio ownership in order to focus on her teaching and is now happily working at Atlas Pilates in Seattle. She learns something new every day while helping her clients get stronger, more flexible and happier by using the Pilates Method.